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BEADED LEOPARD 117 35. Cf. Malcolm Ruel, “Were-Animals and the Introverted Witch,” in Mary Douglas (ed.) Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations, Routledge Library Editions, 1970, p. 335. 36. Robert Brain, Bangwa Kinship and Marriage. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1972, p. 19. 37. Fiona Bowie, “Witchcraft and healing among the Bangwa of Cameroon,” in Graham Harvey (ed.), Indigenous Religion. A Companion, Cassel, London & New York, 2000, p. 69. 38. Among the Bamileke this force had different designations such as ke, ngang, and kang cf. Perrois and Notué, op. cit., pp. 95–96. 39. Ruel, op. cit., p. 335. shared by the fon, who is said to transform into a leopard or a snake and to roam throughout his realm at night.” from Nicolas Argenti, The Intestines of the State, University of Chicago Press, 2007, pp. 129–130. 13. Certain large animals, such as leopards, elephants, pythons, and buffalo were associated with leadership and were also used as honorary titles for chiefs. 14. See caption for Portrait d’un jeune chef with notes by Frank Christol who is also the photographer: “Chief wearing a snake around his neck as a protector of the chefferie. The ‘snake’ is made of cloth stuffed with grass and covered with beads. The garment made in Bamileke is dyed blue. The hat of cotton-covered raffia is adorned with a multitude of rods, also cotton. Left is the bearer of the royal pipe. See 66-4386-730.” 15. Pastor Göhring reportedly took pictures of beaded leopard skins in Bambui in 1905, but this image could not be located. Noted in Pierre Harter, Arts Anciens du Cameroun, Arts d’Afrique Noire, Arnouville, 1986, p.126. 16. Cf. Laszlo Vajda, Hermann Baumann. “Bernhard Ankermanns völkerkundliche Aufzeichnungen im Grasland von Kamerun, 1907–1909,“ in Baessler-Archiv, N.F. Bd.7, 1959, p. 264. 17. See Harter, op. cit., p. 120, fig. 148. 18. Harter writes: “We particularly chose the one that we saw at Bana in 1957. ... It belonged to the mafo Mbialeu, wife of the fon Tchokonjeu and mother of Monteu, who reigned in the mid nineteenth century,” op. cit., p. 126 19. L. Perrois & J.-P. Notué, Rois et sculpteurs de l'Ouest Cameroon: la panthère et la mygale, Orstom, 1997, p. 86, fig. 15. Note that p. 87, fig. 16 of this book illustrates another beaded panther skin. 20. The “elephant society” exists under different local names but with similar accouterments in the various chefferies of the Grassfields. Other names besides kuosi are kemdje and aka, the latter among the Highlands Bangwa. 21. Lecoq, op. cit., ills. #24 & #26. 22. Lecoq, op. cit., ills. #24, #26, #27. 23. Egerton, op. cit., p. 186, 207 ill. #64. 24. Egerton, op. cit., p. 188. 25. Argenti, op cit., p. 132 f. 26. Lecoq, op. cit., p. 44–45. 27. Harter, op. cit., p. 126. 28. Harter, op. cit., p. 126. 29. Harter, op. cit., p. 126. 30. Martha G. Anderson and Christine Mullen Kreamer, Wild Spirits, Strong Medicine: African Art and the Wilderness, edited by Enid Schildkrout, Exh. Cat., Center for African Art, New York, 1989, p. 77. 31. Leadership insignia in the Bamileke region could also be owned by a mafo (mafwa), a female chief. 32. Christraud Geary, Art in Cameroon: Sculptural Dialogues, edited by Marie-Thérèse Brincard, Exh. Cat., Neuberger Museum of Art, New York, 2011, p. 9. 33. Lecoq, op. cit., p. 210, and Egerton, op. cit., p. 230. 34. Lecoq op.cit. p. 60. FIG. 16: Stool with chief/panther caryatid. Bamileke, Grasslands, Cameroon. Wood. Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin, inv. #III C 21058. © BPK/Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.


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